Congratulations to Peyton Manning for throwing his NFL single-season record 51st touchdown pass on Sunday. Now it’s time for the Denver Broncos to refocus their offense toward the only record and goal that matters: Going 3-0 in the playoffs.

Ask the Manning from 2004 (49 TDs). Or the Tom Brady in 2007 (50 TDs). Other than mind-blowing numbers that pleased fantasy owners everywhere, it didn’t mean a thing for those quarterbacks, as those seasons didn’t come with Super Bowl rings.

As Manning picked apart the Texans in the Broncos’ 37-13 victory at Houston on Sunday, he completed 32 of 51 passes for 400 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, in a game the Broncos led 16-6 at halftime, they ran the ball only 18 times for 114 yards. Doing the quick math, that’s a healthy 6.3 per-carry average but a near 3:1 pass-run ratio.

The Broncos had to have seen the fact the Kansas City Chiefs were losing big and the AFC West title was in hand when they kept throwing, so Manning didn’t need to carry his record pursuit into Week 17 against Oakland. But as the competition gets tougher and the games get much more important in January, they can no longer afford to be so pass happy.

Whether you believe that Manning’s arm strength is not the same in cold weather, he’s still a 36-year-old quarterback with 631 attempts in 15 games, second most in any season during his career.

The Broncos were right on their middle of the pack rushing average of 116.8, which had them ranked No. 14 going into Week 16. The issue was the 3.8-yard average despite being No. 6 in attempts.

It’s not like the Broncos don’t choose to run, and it’s not like they can’t run. Knowshon Moreno has been outstanding carrying the load all season, and he’s gotten plenty of recent help from rookie Montee Ball. Ball has seen a gradual increase in work to make his fresh, younger legs more effective at this time of year.

Manning was sacked only once against the Texans, but there was a scare when defensive J.J. Watt rocked him on a hit that made him land hard on his neck. With every Manning dropback, the Broncos put him in position for another hit. Given how they can spread teams out in the passing game, the opportunity is always there in the running game to operate against unloaded fronts.

Manning excels at avoiding pressure with his quick release, but we’ve seen pass teams such as playoff-bound New England and Indianapolis get to him in key games. This is a good time to remind Denver that the Patriots and Colts also have two bottom-five run defenses.

The Broncos stuck to the run in balanced offensive games against Kansas City’s defense and its tough pass rush, making sure they would finish ahead of the Chiefs in the division.

There’s another reason: The Broncos’ defense still has plenty of holes, and it won’t help if the knee injury to linebacker Von Miller lingers. There’s a sense that opponents need to play ball control to keep it away from Manning and have a shot at outscoring him. But the Broncos need to turn the tables and throw that game plan back at their opponents.

The Broncos won big in Houston, but the Texans still led time of possession, 31:07 to 28:53. We saw that go lopsided in Week 15, when the Chargers dominated 38:49 to 21:11 to pull a 27-20 upset at Denver.

It is good Manning lit up the freefalling Texans in a non-wintry environment to get some history out of the way, because now it’s on to the next elusive piece: becoming a multiple Super Bowl champion. Now they are looking at the usual cold, windy elements in the playoffs, all the way through early February in New Jersey. That means, in the big picture, it’s time to refocus on the run.